Alone in the Dark: Inferno Review

Alone in the Dark
was originally released way back in June 2008 on Xbox 360, Wii, PC and
PS2, and received its fair share of bad reviews. Despite its negative
reception, developer Eden Games released a PS3 version in November 2008,
patching it up to lessen glitches and generally improve the experience,
as well as donning it with the subtitle of Inferno to distinguish it
from its counterparts.

Having never played the original versions of this
game I cannot really comment on how much of an improvement the
Playstation version is, but I do know that this is actually a pretty
good game.

You
play as Edward Carnby, a paranormal investigator, who awakens in a
building where he is being imprisoned. Soon after, he is led to the roof
to be killed, only saved when his captor is killed by something unseen.
Trying to escape the slowly collapsing building, he witnesses several
people killed or possessed this evil force, before meeting art dealer
Sarah Flores. Together, they reach the car park, where they find
Theophile Paddington, an old man who claims to know what is going on,
and who Edward really is. He explains that the chaos has been caused by a
stone, when a man named Crowley released the power inside. Escaping by
car through the apocalyptic New York streets, they reach Central Park,
where the rest of the game takes place. While I've never been to
Central Park, my primitive comparisons using Google Earthshowed that the real life park and it's virtual representation were pretty
similar, at least in terms of layout.

Beginning the game,
you'll wake up in first person mode, and will continue to be in this
mode for some time before the game switches into third person. From that
point on, you are able to switch back and forth at will via use
of the triangle button, and for the majority of the game you can stay
in whatever mode you prefer. However, performing some actions requires
you to be in a specific view: for shooting, you'll need to be in first
person, and it's often easier to use this mode when shining the torch
into the eerie darkness, whereas third person mode is used for climbing
and melee combat. First person is a little clunky, and aiming can be
tricky, however a ridiculous amount of auto-aim kicks in to help you
land your shots.Both modes are good enough for general play, but could of done with some refining.

The game
tries to make use of several 'innovative' features. In order to survive,
you'll need to craft weapons out of anything you find, with one of the game's loading screens boldly proclaims that the crafting
possibilities are endless and are only limited by your imagination.
While this isn't quite true, there are plenty of craftable
weapons to play around with, including aerosol spray flame throwers and
makeshift Molotov cocktails. Other helpful, less damaging items can be crafted too,
such as sticking double-sided tape to a glowstick or emergency flare in
order to create a light source that can be stuck to walls to illuminate the darkness.

To
craft or select items, you'll need to dive into your coat. It's
separated into two sides, with the left-hand pockets holding items such
as bullets, handkerchiefs and your lighter, while the other side is home
to
bottles, sprays, glowsticks and flares. In the middle are your pistol
and your torch, both vital during the course of the game. It's a great
idea, making you manage your items to conserve as much space as
possible, and it looks good too, but it breaks up the action too much,
and despite supposedly pausing the game around you, I have been injured
while in my jacket, so I'm not sure that this always work.

To
speed up switching items, pressing L2 and R2 will switch items currently
being held in your left and right hands, and a helpful Favourites menu
can be used to allocate up to four different combinations that can be
accessed with a simple push of up on the d-pad, and then either X,
circle, square or triangle.

Another
display of originality is the ability to freely manipulate objects that
Edward is carrying. There are plenty of items that Edward can pick up,
from baseball bats to swords to chairs, and a press of L1 locks on to
your target, and tethers the right stick to Edward's arm movements,
allowing for precise placement. More vigorous use of the stick will
allow Edward to strike out with whatever is in his hands, which is used
to melee enemies, or break down locked doors. However, most of the time
you'll be wanting to pick up something flammable, and hold it in some flame in order to set it alight.

Fire
plays a vital role in Alone in the Dark, simply because it is the only
way to permanently down enemies. Hit them as many times with a
lampshade, or slice them with a katana, and they'll never be down for
long, but set them on fire, and they'll evaporate into the air. The
easiest way to ignite an enemy is to pour flammable liquid on to your
bullets, allowing you to fire... fire. It's one of the least believable
weapons in Alone in the Dark, but it certainly is helpful for killing
enemies.

With fire so prominent in this game, it's lucky that the fire physics are excellent, spreading and
damaging all combustibles in its path and often causing them break
apart. Bottles of flammable liquid can be used to create a trail leading
up to violently explosive objects, such as cars or tanks of fuel,
allowing you to light the 'fuse' with your lighter and set off
explosions from afar.

As well as starting fires, a lot of the
time, especially during the first Episode inside the collapsing New York
building, you'll be putting them out. Some times fires extinguish themselves, however you'll normally have to do it yourself,
with conveniently placed fire extinguishers that seem to contain
infinite amounts of fire retardant spray - be sure to put it all out as
the fire will begin to spread again as soon as you stop spraying.

The game plays
out like a TV or DVD series, being split up into Episodes, with each
Episode ending on a cliffhanger. Returning to the game after
quitting, you will be shown a short 'Previously on Alone in the Dark'
video, which highlights the main events so far. You can skip these and jump straight into the
game, I actually found myself watching these because I actually quite liked them.

However, the
TV/DVD series stylings don't stop at
the cosmetic. Alone in the Dark allows players to jump between chapters
within an episode, or
even advance through entire episodes, effectively allowing players to
skip portions of the game, ranging from minutes, to hours. This is
designed for when you get stuck, however, to me, this seemed completely
bizarre.

One scene that many found themselves wanting to skip was the infamous
59th Street driving sequence. Inferno apparently improved the driving mechanics, and this section actually went fine for me, and
I completed it the first time, although I'll admit driving throughout the game can be a little tricky in parts, with the cars seeming very fragile and keen to bounce around. Performing the 59th Street sequence in
first person to earn the Cockpit Addict trophy was quite tough,
and I wouldn't recommend driving in first person unless trying for this
trophy.

Throughout the game, you are only forced to use a car a handful of times, however Central
Park is quite large, and you will likely want to travel by car to speed
up journeys, and avoid being assaulted by any nasties lurking in the
dark.

There are plenty of cars strewn around the park, and are helpfully marked on your map so you can find them easily. To
get going, you need to get into the car - either by just opening the
door, or smashing the window and opening from the inside if it's locked -
and then start the engine. This can either be done with a key, that
will either be found already in the ignition or 'hidden' in the sun
visor, or by hotwiring. Initially, this can be a little tricky,
especially as removing the wires seems to cut the interior lights
meaning you are physically unable to see what you are doing. However,
once you realise that the cars will always start by connecting either
both blue or both yellow wires (and more often than not, the
yellows) then hotwiring becomes unbelievably easy, and slightly
pointless.

There are a
variety of enemies to contend with, the most common of which are Humanz
(of which there are several varieties), Ratz and Vampirz, which, before
the disaster, were people, rats and bats, respectively. There are also
some large boss monsters to fight, black goo that swallows you but is
repelled by light, and 'living'
cracks that run through the walls and floors, also trying to swallow you, that are defeated by fire.

Unfortunately, the goo sometimes seems to completely ignore the light and swallow you anyway, and the cracks seem impossible to defeat using a flaming object that you are holding, as you can not hold the
object at a level where it will touch the floor. Additionally, upon being dragged
around by these cracks, quick time events will appear, and I had lots
of trouble being killed despite performing the on-screen actions.

Edward
does get hurt a lot during his battles with enemies and run-ins with
fire, and instead of a standard health bar, Edward's injuries are shown
physically on his body, with his clothes getting ripped and cuts
appearing. To heal yourself, you'll need to find some Medical Spray, and
press right on the d-pad to access the Healing Mode, where can then
spray the stuff on to heal up your wounds. Some wounds will cause
haemorrhaging, which will cause you be bleed out and die after roughly
6-7 minutes. To stop yourself from dying in this scenario, you must
bandage the wound, and if there aren't any bandages in your jacket, this
often starts a desperate search for some, however I found that the
bleed out time period can be completely cancelled if you make it to the
next main checkpoint before you die.Many
complaints about this game stemmed from glitches, and while I didn't
encounter too many problems throughout, it certainly isn't bug free. At
one point, I had to restart the checkpoint because I was trapped
inexplicably between a piece of rubble and Sarah, and there was also a
rather serious graphical error where the floor of the car park during
the first driving sequence began switching between normal height and a
height about 2 foot above normal, meaning my car appeared to be half
submerged in a flickery black mess. Another irritating bug was caused by
being unable to fit through a door that I had blown open, and being
unable to force it further no matter what I threw at it. There were also
some general issues during gameplay, with the occasional frame rate
drops and screen tearing noticeable at points.

Graphically, Alone in the Dark is a mixture. Character
models, especially the faces, are very detailed, however some parts of
the park can look very ugly, as if the developers weren't expecting
anyone to actually go there. The lighting both makes and breaks the
looks in this game, and in places it looks amazing, however situations
with lots of dynamic lighting can cause frame rate issues.

Similarly,
the sound has both good and bad qualities. The haunting, Bulgarian
choir soundtrack is simply amazing, and really sets the pace of the
game; the voice acting, on the other hand, isn't so great. While all the
main characters are voiced reasonably well, some of the minor
characters are voiced terribly, and the amount of swearing in this game
is ridiculous - it seems not even one cutscene can pass without
containing at least one obscenity. While swearing doesn't offend me,
most of the time it just seemed unnecessary.

And, upon finishing
the game's story line, you will be given a decision, which then cues one
of two final cutscenes (depending, of course, on what decision you
made). However, neither of these cutscenes tie up all the loose ends,
and just leave the game with no real ending - and with poor review
scores and sales, sequel Alone in the Dark 6 probably won't be releasing
any time soon.Overall,
Alone in the Dark is a decent survival horror game that utilises
several unique and innovative techniques to try and draw you into Edward
Carnby's world, sporting an amazing soundtrack and a great fire physics
engine, however it falls short with gameplay mechanics aren't quite as
tight as they should be, and graphical and gameplay glitches that
detract from an otherwise great game.

However, if you are looking for a cheap survival horror game, then look no further than Alone in the Dark: Inferno.